Pb-12 NSD arrived, need help with placement

[Wheatenterrier]

The sub is huge and the first thing my wife said when she saw it was "what the hell were you thinking?" Anyway I love it. I have a huge room and to get bass I have to turn the volume/gain 3/4 of the way up and I have the SW level on my receiver at +5.5.

She would definitely complain if it was to turned up to much and she has not said a word. I have moved it back and forth on the wall and not noticed much difference.

I do have all speakers set to small, and crossovers set at 80hrz etc.

Now for the big question. If I place the sub in my seating position to crawl around and find the sweet spot, which way do I point the dang thing? Wouldn't this make a huge difference?

If I place the sub in the corner does it face out or do I point the woofer into the corner? currently is is pointing out and sitting sideways along the wall. Should it be pointing straight out from the wall?

 

[j_garcia]

Ideally, you need an SPL meter to figure out which is the best spot. You may not be able to tell with ears alone and using movies and music to determine the best location.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I have always been afraid to set my sub in my listening position as I think it would crush my couch...

 

[speakerman39]

The sub is huge and the first thing my wife said when she saw it was "what the hell were you thinking?" Anyway I love it. I have a huge room and to get bass I have to turn the volume/gain 3/4 of the way up and I have the SW level on my receiver at +5.5.

She would definitely complain if it was to turned up to much and she has not said a word. I have moved it back and forth on the wall and not noticed much difference.

I do have all speakers set to small, and crossovers set at 80hrz etc.

Now for the big question. If I place the sub in my seating position to crawl around and find the sweet spot, which way do I point the dang thing? Wouldn't this make a huge difference?

If I place the sub in the corner does it face out or do I point the woofer into the corner? currently is is pointing out and sitting sideways along the wall. Should it be pointing straight out from the wall?

Hello there and congrats on your new sub!!!! If you don't mind, please give us more info about your room. For starters, we need dimensions and a general lay-out of the room itself. Is your listening area open to other rooms? Do you have flat or vaulted ceilings? The owners manual will tell you to start with a corner closest to your front-stage. Sometimes, it will sound better in between your fronts. Of course, this is NOT always the case. Lastly, as John mentioned above, you will need a Radio Shack SPL meter and a test cd such as the Avia or the Rives Test CD II. You might want to take some pictures of your room and send them directly to SVS as they will be more than happy to assist you. Ed Mullen is very good at helping customers find the right spot. With that said, it is paramount to take very good pictures. The more info Ed has the better he will be able to assist you. Hope this helps and good luck.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Gimpy Ric]

Just wanted to say congrats on the new SVS from another Happy SVS owner .

 

[mike c]

+5.5 on the receiver + 3/4 gain on the sub is normally pretty high ... unless you have the master volume pretty low.

do you have an SPL meter? if not, you need to stop what you are doing right now and order one!

normally, I start my sub calibration with the subwoofer gain at 0db. then i adjust the subwoofer gain to match the other channels on the SPL meter.

 

[Bluesmoke]

+5.5 on the receiver + 3/4 gain on the sub is normally pretty high ... unless you have the master volume pretty low.

do you have an SPL meter? if not, you need to stop what you are doing right now and order one!

normally, I start my sub calibration with the subwoofer gain at 0db. then i adjust the subwoofer gain to match the other channels on the SPL meter.

I was going to mention that too. That sounds pretty high. If he needs to do that to get bass, I think he should have opted for the PB12 Plus the Ultra.

 

[Wheatenterrier]

I do have the Radioshack spl meter, and the sub is playing way louder than the other channels as I measure it. If I don't have it this way it's like not having any bass though. I will also take pictures of the room and post them here. The drawing is ready now but the pictures will come tonight.

The long wall is 32 ft long. You can see the other is 15 feet. The ceilings are 8 ft High. the pics will help a lot I think when I get those in here.

 

[Bluesmoke]

I would put the Sub behind the sofa to see if that helps.

 

[Wheatenterrier]

No one has anwsered my question. Does it matter which way the subwoofer points? If I try it behind the couch which way should it face?

 

[mike c]

No one has anwsered my question. Does it matter which way the subwoofer points? If I try it behind the couch which way should it face?

normally, it won't matter.

 

[speakerman39]

Bass is mostly non-directional and as such really makes little difference how it is pointed. What matters is where you place it. The goal is to put the sub in a place that will yield the best performance. In other words, put it in a place that will result in less standing waves and thus offering optimal performance. Keep in mind, however, the higher the X-over point will also result in the sub becoming more localized. My vote would be to start in a corner closest to the seating position as possible. Or as blue mentioned earlier, put it directly behind your couch. Hope this helps. Good luck. Remember, the guys at SVS are very helpful and will be more than happy to assist you. Ed Mullen and Erik Kroner are second to none with respect to customer service. Trust me when I mention something like that.

Cheers,

Phil

 

[j_garcia]

It DOES matter which way you point it, as you will get a slightly different sound with it pointing at the wall due to immediate reflection. Whether or not it sounds better one way or another depends entirely on your room however. The way I would start is with the sub pointed in the direction of the longest leg of the room. The Cadence sub that I tested sounded better facing the corner, while my PB-10 sounded better pointed toward the adjacent corner, which was along the longest length of the room.

 

[Wheatenterrier]

Interesting J Garcia, I'll be sure and test in both positions. I currently have it pointing down the long wall as per my diagram above. I thought pointing into the corner would be useless, but I'll give it a shot.

 

[speakerman39]

Hey John, I stand corrected. What I meant to say or what I was referring to was in reference to putting the sub in the sweet spot when doing the crawl method. Mike C was alluding to that in his post and I mentioned it in mine. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused the OP. Furthermore, you summed it up quite nicely and mentioning that subwoofer performance is relative to the room it is placed in.

Cheers,

Phil